4/15/2009 -- CompTIA, the organization behind the "plus" certifications (A+, Network+, etc.), has recently started an electronic newsletter dubbed SmartBrief. According to the preliminary information:

"CompTIA SmartBrief is a summary of the day's top news for IT professionals. It is one more benefit to help CompTIA members and friends stay abreast of the people, policies and news affecting our industry, and continue to advance IT industry growth."

The best part is that subscriptions are free (just like this here newsletter). You can sign up for it here. While only a few issues have come out, it looks to be a good source of industry information -- and you can't complain about the cost.

New Microsoft MCPD Exams
In case you missed it, last month Microsoft released four MCPD upgrade exams for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 .NET Framework. And as the names imply, all are aimed at developers already certified as MCPD Developers in the earlier .NET Framework:

• Transition Your MCPD Windows Developer Skills to MCPD Windows Developer 3.5 (70-566)
• Transition Your MCPD Web Developer Skills to MCPD ASP .NET Developer 3.5 (70-567)
• Transition Your MCPD Enterprise Application Developer Sills to MCPD Application Developer 3.5, Part 1 (70-568)
• Transition Your MCPD Enterprise Application Developer Sills to MCPD Application Developer 3.5, Part 2 (70-569)

The exams are available through Prometric.

Adobe Certifications Available Through VUE
Adobe has two different certifications it offers: Adobe Certificate Associate (ACA) and Adobe Certified Expert (ACE). The former is an entry-level certification, while the latter requires knowledge of several products. And now both are available through VUE testing centers.

Each exam is priced at $65 USD. You can get more info in the FAQ here.

Book of the Week: 'Camtasia Studio 6: The Definitive Guide'
One of the programs that should be in every administrator's toolbox is Camtasia Studio. This program lets you record your session and do everything with it -- add callouts, highlight, zoom, fade, narration, etc. Add to that the ability to record presentations (perfect integration with PowerPoint), and you have the ideal tool for creating quick movies on common tasks that users need to time over and over again.

One of the great things about Camtasia Studio, and particularly with the current version, is that the help system is phenomenal. Any time you want to know how to do something, you can click for help and be taken to a short video on the Web that shows you how to do it. One drawback, however, is that you don't know what you can and can't do -- and that's where it's worthwhile to have an actual book that can walk you through.

Enter Camtasia Studio 6: The Definitive Guide by Daniel Park. To the best of my knowledge, there has been a version of this book published for each version of Camtasia Studio, and the book just gets better with each update.